“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9a NLT
Grace is available to us not only when we’re faced with tremendous challenges, but also for just doing every day life. Even the things that we might consider so simple to us, matter to God and He wants to give us the strength and joy that will help us do those things well. In fact, many times our every day life situations will hold some of the most extraordinary opportunities to make significant impact for God. Just look at the life of Jesus – He met people right where they were, in their everyday lives, but He was able to see the connection from those simple, everyday things as an opportunity to touch their lives and make an eternal difference. In order for us to spiritually see how the opportunity for the great things can be connected to even the most simple areas of our lives, (and draw out the same in the lives of others) we must abide in God’s presence and stay connected to Him. This can and will get challenged in the life of every believer and we have to be intentional about protecting it.
I remember a time in my life where I had stepped into a season of tremendous growth. God was doing a new thing in my life and had blessed me with several new opportunities, many of which came all at once. As I started growing, and got even more busy, I started relying on my spiritual “equity” to carry me through. Some days, it didn’t seem as if there were enough hours in the day to do what I had to get done, and I started getting less and less intentional about protecting my time with God. There was not an immediate impact that I could recognize this was having, so I didn’t feel as if I was being weakened in any way, but I was. Over time, my joy started to fade away, (Psalm 84:5)and I started feeling more and more frustrated with everything I had to do. Instead of approaching each day with anticipation, all I saw was a huge list of things to do – one I could never seem to catch up on. I started to question if maybe I had taken a wrong turn somewhere, I started second-guessing lots of things and started losing my confidence. I began feeling myself pulling away from many of the things I had once enjoyed because I saw them as an energy drain – one I couldn’t afford. Instead of facing each day with cool, calm confidence, I scurried around frantic to get things done so I could move on to the next one. I’d come to the end of some days feeling as if I had accomplished very little, but yet feeling totally exhausted.
Of course, now – I can now look back on that time like “duh!” but while I was experiencing it, it was a very subtle drift. So many times we blame things like this on spiritual attack, but in all actuality, we can be the ones working against ourselves! We know the Word says that apart from Him we can do nothing, but since we know we’ve been saved, we’re good, right? And that’s true – this is not a matter of going to heaven or not, it’s more about the quality of our life while here on earth. Staying connected to God is what brings the quality and richness to our everyday lives. But instead, many of us are walking through life feeling weak and overwhelmed. God wants to strengthen us and give us His grace for our everyday life, not just at intervals where we have mountaintop experiences and then live off of that until the next one comes around.
The wake up call for me came when I stopped for just a moment to look around at everything God had blessed me with (Romans 2:4). Honestly, I think I was just so exhausted I couldn’t do anymore but just sit there and look around for a while. And as I did, I realized that I wasn’t enjoying what I had or what I was able to be a part of. How foolish I felt! What a beautiful life I have, what a wonderful family He’s blessed me with, what great health He’s given me and my family, and what an incredible church I get to be a part of! God himself had given me all of this, and I knew it, but I also knew He wants me to enjoy it to the fullest. (Proverbs 10:22)
The amount of work I do everyday hasn’t changed, my schedule is still packed to it’s capacity with meetings and deadlines, and I go through endless pages in my notebooks full of things to do. As a wife and mom of 2, There are still dinners to cook, lunches to pack, errands to run and then mix in a day here or there when one of my children might get sick. It doesn’t stop, but my view of it all has changed significantly. There are still moments when I start feeling stressed, and don’t know how I’m going to do it all. But as a result of staying in tuned with God I’ve come to recognize those moments as soon as they happen and I can take a step back, take a deep breath and lean back into God’s grace to get it done. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” Don’t stress out, see the opportunities for the extraordinary in the everyday but most importantly – stay connected to God so that you can do it all and enjoy it in the process.
LGR
